The Rajya Sabha on Thursday passed the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, 2021, under which six more institutes of pharmaceutical education and research, other than the one at Mohali, will be accorded the status of institute of national importance; undergraduate and diploma courses introduced in them; and an advisory council formed for them.
Parliament Proceedings live | Parliament pays homage to those who died in the chopper crash
The Bill was cleared through a voice vote. It was cleared by the Lok Sabha on December 6.
Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, while replying to a discussion on the Bill, said, “During COVID-18, we held meetings with pharmaceutical manufactures and assured them of removing all bottlenecks to research and manufacture vaccines in record time.” It was due to the government’s policies that 85% of the eligible population had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, he added.
He also claimed that three out of 10 scientists at NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in the U.S. were Indians and earlier the deserving candidates were not getting the right opportunity in India.
